How to Create Optics Simulations of Head-Up Displays and Human Vision

The market is demanding that products look better and work properly the first time. As a result, design engineers need to perform optics simulations to better understand what products will look like in the real world.

To that end, the ANSYS 2019 R1 version of ANSYS SPEOS improves how design engineers simulate automotive interiors, lighting and head-up displays (HUD).

SPEOS’ New Optimization Algorithm for Automotive Lighting Design

By automating the optimization process, the algorithm accelerates the development of automotive lights that are regulation-compliant.

SPEOS Enhances Its Human Eye Model

In ANSYS 2019 R1, SPEOS includes an updated sensor model that is dedicated to simulating the human eye. The model now considers how pupil diameter will react to the illumination within a room.

The human eye model has also improved its ability to add contrast to an image under low light conditions. This means that a virtual prototype and its real-life counterpart will be more closely correlated in low luminance conditions.

Also, SPEOS now has an enhanced screen calibration procedure. SPEOS will use the screen’s luminance data to display results so they appear closer to reality.

SPEOS can even optimize its optics simulations to be displayed on HDR10 and Dolby Vision displays.

Simplifying the Design of HUDs with SPEOS

Thanks to a new add-on, engineers will be able to design and optimize HUDs within the Siemens NX interface.

“Creating a physical prototype of a HUD is very expensive. And the experience of ghosting — when a HUD image is blurry — is hard to replicate in a physical prototype,” says Kara Gremillion, lead product marketing manager at ANSYS. “With SPEOS, engineers can simulate HUDs early in the design cycle. This won’t eliminate physical prototypes, but it will make it easier for engineers to find and fix problems — like ghosting — early in development.”

The HUD optimization is based on various inputs, including:

Orientation of the HUD.

Distance between the user’s eyes and the HUD.

Number of elements in the simulation.

Mechanical/size constraints of the HUD.

The HUD add-on will then optimize the mirrors to reduce aberrations in the final assembly.

The optical surfaces of these mirrors can also be defined as polynomials. This will make it easier to build the mirror in a computer numerical control (CNC) machine.